This is page 2 of:
Clarifying, Somewhat, The PCI Wireless Security Standards
Pages: 1 2
July 22nd, 2009
The new PCI wireless guidelines are helpful, but it could have—should have—gone a few steps farther, opines PCI Columnist David Taylor. For example, one of the technical controls that was introduced with PCI DSS 1.2 is the wireless IDS/IPS. It’s listed as an option, with the other option being to manually carry a laptop around corporate and stores running wireless networks on a quarterly (or more frequent) basis and see whether any networks appear that the security person (if any) does not recognize.
Although it's certainly understandable that, for SMEs, the cost of a wireless IDS/IPS can be prohibitive, this is the sort of technology that should be mandatory for larger (i.e., Level 1 and 2) companies. That is not only because of the time and effort that it saves, but also because it can be extremely difficult to spot “rogue” or malicious networks in dense urban areas, shopping malls and large multi-company facilities.
This Story Is Only Available For Premium Subscribers. Click Or Login In Below To Read The Rest Of This Story.
Already a Subscriber? Login Here
Pages: 1 2
One Comment | Read Clarifying, Somewhat, The PCI Wireless Security Standards
Leave a Reply
Readers, specifically those who want to comment on a story:
Our Comment SPAM system is getting very aggressive these days and has been blocking legitimate comments. If you post a comment and don't see it appear within 2 hours or so, can you please send a heads-up to customer-service@storefrontbacktalk? Ideally, please include the time you posted the comment. That will allow us to try and hunt for it. Thanks! P.S. We're working on fixing the system, but we don't want to lose any valuable comments in the meantime.
Our Comment SPAM system is getting very aggressive these days and has been blocking legitimate comments. If you post a comment and don't see it appear within 2 hours or so, can you please send a heads-up to customer-service@storefrontbacktalk? Ideally, please include the time you posted the comment. That will allow us to try and hunt for it. Thanks! P.S. We're working on fixing the system, but we don't want to lose any valuable comments in the meantime.

-Ed

July 23rd, 2009 at 10:36 am
David makes some very good points here. As described in the wireless guidelines document, a wireless IDS/IPS is really the only practical way to achieve PCI compliance. Walkaround audit are expensive, unreliable and not scalable. Traditional, onsite wireless IDS/IPS systems have often come with a high price tag and only a few large organizations can afford them.